I mean, I love the word because it has such a precise meaning - there isn't a better word for what it means - and if I say someone's articulate, it's high praise. And now all of a sudden I have to think of a person's race before allowing myself to say it?
Sometimes I think I'm racist just because of how much I hate when people expect me to be racist because I'm white. And those people, as a general rule, aren't white. But seriously. I roomed with a black girl for two months and she wouldn't speak to me or to my white/Hispanic suitemates. We tried to talk to her - to make her feel comfortable, to joke around with her, whatever. She'd turn her back, leave the room. Who's racist?
"Articulate" is actually somewhat vague - it can denote clarity, precision, persuasiveness, or it can even just indicate basic fluency. Is the speaker especially precise, lucid, expressive, eloquent? I think that's why "articulate" works well for this kind of thing - like "bright" or "ambitious", it doesn't make a specific claim and can in a way be damning with faint praise.
I'm sorry you had a crappy experience with an ex-roommate. But I think it's unhelpful to react to this article by thinking it's just teaching you a new way to walk on eggshells, "oh no what do I have to do to not be racist now". It's just describing a symptom of a problem, not behavior that is itself a problem.
Hmm. I've never thought of "articulate" as vague - maybe it's just the way it gets defined in my brain. When I call someone "articulate," I mean that they really have a damn good handle on their vocabulary - use precisely the right words to make their point. (Which, of course, for my poor grammar-ridden brain, is a huge deal.) "Articulate" to me is a staccato word - no wishy-washyness, no vaguery, but definite movement. I don't know if that makes any sense.
But really. I do think that the expectation of racism affects my attitude towards people of other races. I almost want to say the best solution would be to break it down even further. Stop saying "white, black, hispanic, native American" and start saying "Polish, Nigerian, Mexican, Abenaki." But then, not everybody knows. But if everybody said their exact origin, we would have a better understanding of everybody's diversity. After all, while my ex-roommate's family was struggling for freedom, my family was experiencing a potato famine
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The Irish Potato Famine was 1845-1849, while the American Civil War was 1861-1865 (the Emancipation Proclamation was in 1863). So they're pretty close.
I mean, I love the word because it has such a precise meaning - there isn't a better word for what it means - and if I say someone's articulate, it's high praise. And now all of a sudden I have to think of a person's race before allowing myself to say it?
Sometimes I think I'm racist just because of how much I hate when people expect me to be racist because I'm white. And those people, as a general rule, aren't white. But seriously. I roomed with a black girl for two months and she wouldn't speak to me or to my white/Hispanic suitemates. We tried to talk to her - to make her feel comfortable, to joke around with her, whatever. She'd turn her back, leave the room. Who's racist?
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I'm sorry you had a crappy experience with an ex-roommate. But I think it's unhelpful to react to this article by thinking it's just teaching you a new way to walk on eggshells, "oh no what do I have to do to not be racist now". It's just describing a symptom of a problem, not behavior that is itself a problem.
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But really. I do think that the expectation of racism affects my attitude towards people of other races. I almost want to say the best solution would be to break it down even further. Stop saying "white, black, hispanic, native American" and start saying "Polish, Nigerian, Mexican, Abenaki." But then, not everybody knows. But if everybody said their exact origin, we would have a better understanding of everybody's diversity. After all, while my ex-roommate's family was struggling for freedom, my family was experiencing a potato famine ( ... )
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By the way I'm madly in love with the brownness of your journal. I could never pull off brown. It doesn't match "Get the Grill."
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